When bankers get together for dinner, they discuss Art. When artists get together for dinner, they discuss Money. – Oscar Wilde I have yet to meet an artist that doesn’t feel the need to do a better job organizing their finances. It’s important to keep track of your income and expenditures so you can identify issues, evaluate your product sales, and get your taxes straight. Over the last few years I’ve been putting together a set of spreadsheets to manage our studio finances. It occurred to me that this might be useful to other people, especially those starting out, so…

Sitting in an Artist Alley is pretty different from being in the dealer’s hall. You have much less space to work with and you’re working (sometimes literally) shoulder to shoulder and back to back with your fellow artists. There’s often few to no barriers between the artists beyond what your display can bring. There are many, many advantages to being friendly and open with your fellow artists. Being a good neighbor helps foster a positive attitude in the alley. Happy artists mean happy attendees and happy attendees are more likely to stop, browse and make purchases. Additionally, when in the…

Over the last year, we’ve spent a lot of time figuring out how to get more things done. For the last few years, we’ve had to accept that we can’t work the way we did in our early twenties. Back then, it wasn’t an issue to work a full time job and stay up until 3am drawing or writing. That isn’t working anymore, and it’s been tricky figuring out how to keep up a reasonable level of productivity while staying on top of our other priorities like health, day jobs and relationships. I’ll go over a few things that have…

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Show your Apprentice love! This high quality embroidered twill patch features the 1oth anniversary logo. The text and image of Dorian's bow stand out from the background, giving the patch a 3-dimensional feel. This is a 3-inch sew-on patch.

Here's another good article from 99u. Two thoughts from me about this article:

1. You never know what's going to be popular, so take all of your work seriously.

2. Art education desperately needs to start taking law and business seriously. It never fails to amaze me that an artist can have a bachelors degree, and still not understand IP law or basic business concepts.

This isn't normal. A student taking a six month certificate class in other fields will get an overview of the basic laws and regulations of their field. Many art curricula don't include a single class. ... See more

Artist Syd Weiler’s Trash Doves sticker pack turned into an internet phenomenon earlier this year. That's when the nightmare began. Weiler hadn't copyrighted her work, and people used it without…

The creative world's bullshit industrial complex- been on my mind lately as I work on ramping up our production and building our business. I read a lot of books and articles on creative business, and that involves sifting through a lot of this. ... See more

Don’t fall into the trap of being an expert before you’re ready. We have enough of those.

Starting day two. It's a little warmer this morning and people are starting to trickle through. Met an old friend we haven't seen in years and delivered gifts to a first-time congoer. Now, Christy has gone in search of plastic fedoras, Ranma 1/2 and cheeseburger t-shirts. ... See more

Well, preliminary verdict is that the move isn't hurting traffic. It's been packed all morning. Fun fact-we are in the hall that I secured for us in for the initial move to the convention center. It was less than half the size then. (We split the hall with Registration that year.) ... See more